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Internships & CPT

Expectations and best practices for pursuing an internship or CPT while an ILS student.

Internships & Curricular Practical Training (CPT)

The ILS graduate programs allow graduate students in good standing with their respective programs to perform outside internships related to their major field of study with permission of their PI. Students interested in performing an internship should seek the permission of their PI prior to applying for internships. While perusing an internship offer, students are encouraged to talk to their graduate advisor and graduate program staff to ensure compliance with academic and administrative requirements respectively at least 8 weeks prior to the estimated start of the internship.   

Participation in an internship creates several administrative issues that need time to be resolved on an individual basis prior to the scheduled start of the internship: 

  1. Visa: international students on an F-1 visa need to obtain temporary employment authorization called Curricular Practical Training (CPT), please visit https://global.utexas.edu/isss/immigration/f1/employment/cpt for more information. 
  2. Financial Support: faculty are not required to provide the standard financial student support during the semester of an internship. 
  3. Enrollment & Insurance: during a long semester (Fall/Spring) students must be enrolled to qualify to purchase academic insurance. 
    1. Domestic Students who do not require insurance through the university may request a Leave of Absence for the semester of their internship and forgo enrollment for that semester. 
    2. Domestic Students who have not yet entered candidacy have the option of enrolling in EXP 000/080: Internships & Career Experiences, a free, zero-credit course which will allow them to maintain enrollment and purchase UT student insurance for the semester.  
    3. Per the international office rules, International students will be charged for insurance unless they complete the needed ISSS waiver showing that they have insurance for that time period from another source. ISSS waiver information can be found at https://global.utexas.edu/isss/advisingservices/insurance/waivers.  

  4. Conflict of Interest: the student needs to declare any potential conflict of interest created by their participation in the internship, please visit https://research.utexas.edu/ors/conflict-of-interest/